Two days after losing the AFC Asian Cup semi-final to hosts Australia, Mahdi Ali says he is confident in the UAE’s preparations for the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign starting in June.
The UAE complete their Asian Cup campaign on Friday with the third/fourth place play-off against Iraq.
And coach Mahdi believes his squad have proved their ability on the big stage, which will hold them in good stead when they attempt to qualify for the next World Cup.
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“We played three games against teams who qualified for the World Cup in Japan, Iran and Australia,” said Mahdi Ali. “We played well in these three games and there was no big gap between the teams. This gives us the confidence to qualify for the next World Cup.”
The new qualifying format means the matches will function as qualifiers for the World Cup as well as the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, which the UAE are favourites to host.
“We have to work hard and plan better than before as it will be hard with the new draw system where you have a group of eight,” Mahdi Ali said. “It’s a good chance for us to qualify for Russia as we have a good generation.
“We came to this competition with the main goal of reaching the semi-final and we have achieved that.
“It would have been great to play in the final, but we tried our best and worked very hard to achieve that. It is not the end of the world and we have to work harder in the future.”
While the third-place play-off is often seen as a unwanted chore for losing semi-finalists, the UAE coach is more than happy to challenge Iraq for that honour.
“Third place is very important for the team,” he said. “We are only thinking about the game and winning. It is important for us to go back home happy.
“We have worked hard over the last two days to bring back the fighting spirit the players, because after losing in the semi-final all the players were disappointed.
“We have forgotten about the last match and we are focusing on the next game and securing third place which will send us home happy like we started.”
Ali Mabkhout, who has a great chance of winning the top scorer award if he nets tonight, said the players are taking the match against Iraq seriously.
“The players are looking froward to getting the bronze medals at the Asian Cup, which are by every measure a significantly better achievement than finishing fourth,” he said.
He said fatigue got the better of the team in the semi-final.
“Of course we were affected by the huge physical effort we exerted against Japan,” Mabkhout said. “We did our best to get to the semi-final but the match went the way of the Australians. That’s football.”
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